Fourth seeded Utpal Sasane, playing on the top board, started the game with the King's Pawn Opening to which third seeded Rajesh Sapkal replied with the Sicilian Defence. Utpal employed Alapian on line c to which Rajesh replied with nf6. Utpal went on to gain a good position but lost in the end on the 56th move.

Fifth seeded Abhijit Joshi, playing on the second board, started off the game with the King's Pawn opening to which ninth seeded Arvind Belwalkar replied with the Alikhine defence. Abhijit employed the Modern variation. On the 28th move the queens were exchanged, after which Abhijit simplified the position.

Twelve players have qualified for the forthcoming Round-Robin tournament which is going to be held at Nehru Stadium. In this meet the top six players will play against the International Rating Players in Pune. The players will also get their Rating. Seeded players like UK Shahastrabuddhe (8) and Snehal Mahajan (6) have not been able to get an entry in this nine day tourney.

Results
Rajesh Sapkal (8.5) bt Utpal Sasane (6.5); Abhijit Joshi (7) bt Arvind Belwalkar (6.5); Pranav Akolkar (6.5) drew Saumitra Mujumdar (6.5); Ravi Behere (6.5) drew Amruta Mokal (6.5); Sandeep Gohad (6.5) bt Satish Chavan (5.5); Anil Kulkarni (6.5) bt Mandar Sane (5.5); Prasanna Borse (6.5) bt Mihir Naniwdekar (5.5); M Pate (6.5) bt Sachin Sayle (5.5); Chandrakant Dongre (6) bt Milind Ahstaputre (5); Snehal Mahajan (6) bt Sohan Phadke (5).

The Qualifiers
1. Rajesh Sapkal (8.5); 2. Abhijit Joshi (7); 3. Pranav Akolkar (6.5); 4. Utpal Sasane (6.5); 5. Amruta Mokal (6.5); 6. Sandeep Gohad (6.5); 7. Arvind Belwalakar (6.5); 8. M Pate (6.5); 9. Ravi Behere (6.5); 10. Prasanna Borse (6.5); 11. Saumitra Mujamdar (6.5); 12. Anil Kulkarni (6.5).